The Reel World

"You must be kidding."

It is the most requested photograph from the White House archives. I'm talking about a photograph of Richard Nixon with The King. This particular King's kingdom wasn't a nation or political group. Of course, I'm talking about Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. The meeting occurred in the days before Nixon installed his infamous recording equipment and long before that fateful break-in at Watergate. So no one really knows what was said in the meeting. Now director Liza Johnson attempts to take us behind the closed doors of the Oval Office on that fateful day in December of 1970 when the leader of the free world met with the leader of a generation. Elvis And Nixon is a whimsical look at what might have been said that day. I can't tell you how close she got to the truth. I can tell you this story is worth telling anyway. It was certainly worth watching. Take it from a long-time history teacher. American History was never this much fun.

“There is another story. One that comes long before...happily ever after.”

An unseen narrator — an uncredited Liam Neeson, wisely choosing not to show his face in this film — intones these words at the start of The Huntsman: Winter's War. He's talking about the saga involving a certain magic mirror and Ravenna (a still-captivating Charlize Theron), the wicked antagonist from 2012's Snow White and The Huntsman. But as this flat, uninspired prequel/sequel hybrid unfolds, it becomes clear that this “other story” is essentially an unimaginative mish-mash of Disney (shades of Frozen and Brave are added to the Snow White framework) and Tolkien.

For the Gasparilla International Film Festival, to nab the latest film from writer/director Richard Linklater is kind of a big deal. GIFF was the second festival to show Everybody Wants Some after its debut at the acclaimed South by Southwest festival.  With the film being lauded as a spiritual sequel to Linklater’s cult hit Dazed and Confused, I had to admit I was a bit skeptical about this film and its ability to even match up to its predecessor; after all, it was the indie darling that helped launched the careers of Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, and many others.  This ensemble of talented up-and-comers managed to capture this cinematic lightning in a bottle about high school, and for me it’s a film I manage to watch at least once a year when I come across someone who hasn’t yet seen the film. So how does the film hold up in the face of such expectations?  For me this isn’t just a fun film, but I’m taking a stand and calling this the best party film to date (and yes, I’m daring to say it’s better than Animal House.)

It’s time to take a trip back to 1980, a time before social media was ever a thing, and when cars came with tape decks filled with cassettes and people who had record collections were not hit with being called hipsters.  The star of this film for me is the music that is beautifully strung through the film, whether we’re listening to Van Halen, Sugar Hill Gang, or The Knack, what we have is a great assortment of music to set the tone of the film, and we get a musical bag of ear candy to indulge.

"This is the law of the jungle..."

Disney appears to have a law that all of its classic cartoon features must now be made into live-action films. As I've mentioned in my review of the original classic The Jungle Book, the animated feature was the end of an important era at Walt Disney Studios. It was released about a year after Walt's death and was the last film he supervised from beginning to end. In the wake of Walt's death the studio experienced a sharp turnover and complete retooling of the animation department. With only the nine old men to carry the traditions of Walt into the future, The Jungle Book would forever mark a distinct milestone in the history of animated feature films.

Comic book movies are the preeminent form of movie entertainment in this day and age. I use the term broadly to include all sorts of fantasy books and ancillary offshoots. There is the Marvel Universe and the DC Universe and other universes that include Star Wars, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, and endless variations. As consumers we become fans of a particular fantasy world from which we gain great personal pleasure. Religion is also a source of orientation for most of the world. We believe in various versions of God in which to invest our emotions fervently and honestly. There is a clear difference between fantasy and religion, but then we have YouTube, which is becoming increasingly crammed with “information” that crosses the line between fantasy and reality. Many people who are obsessed with superheroes and fantasy characters may not believe in God. People who believe in God may find comic books silly. The fact is that myth and legend are intertwined with fantasy and religion to this very day. We all live in a real world, and all of this is beyond our understanding if it were indeed real.

Midnight Special is a movie that starts from a religious framework. A young boy, Alton Meyer (Jaeden Lieberher) has been kidnapped by his father from a religious cult. The cult is run by Calvin Meyer (Sam Shepard) and, though it’s not clear, he is probably the father of Alton’s father. Roy (Michael Shannon) has taken the boy to bring about prophesy that the boy has foretold. The cult is apparently centered on words the boy has said as a new scripture. The government is actively involved in recapturing the boy, but for reasons of national security. Numerous FBI and military personnel are involved in the hunt, but the de facto head is NSA agent Sevier (Adam Driver, better known now as Kylo Ren from Star Wars: Episode VII-The Force Awakens). Roy has enlisted a state trooper friend, Lucas (Joel Edgerton) in this highly illegal endeavor. Everyone is committed to the quest by the force of religious fervor.

Have you ever had a traumatic loss? Have you ever lost someone and felt numb? How did you feel about the person you lost, and was it different now that they were gone? Do you think you acted appropriately about the death? Did you care about what people thought of you, or were you in your own little world? Were you ever the same again? Demolition stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, and Chris Cooper, and is directed by Jean Marc Vallee. Vallee has directed two outstanding and Oscar-nominated films in the last couple of years, Dallas Buyer’s Club (Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto won Best Actor and Supporting Actor) and Wild (Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern nominated). Jake Gyllenhaal has been on a fantastic run of totally committed and intense performances (Prisoners, Nightcrawler, Everest, Southpaw, Enemy, End of Watch) for the last few years, and Demolition is no exception.

Davis Mitchell (Gyllenhaal) has a great life. His wife adores him and has an incredible job as an investment banker working for her father, Phil (Chris Cooper). In the narration he mentions that he probably shouldn’t say how much his firm manages, because it would be unethical, but he does anyway ($6,000,000,000). He seems blissfully oblivious to problems in life. Then in an instant his wife is gone. She was killed in an accident while driving and talking to him sitting next to her. He escapes unscathed.

"It's time for the biggest gladiator match of all time. Son of Krypton versus Bat of Gotham"

In a summer chalked with blockbusters that are expected to defy box office records, dare I say this may be the most anticipated one of them all? When news about this film was first released, opposition rang out on both sides of the spectrum. Some argued that films that feature two characters facing off rarely work, especially when it comes to two heroes. I have to admit that I found myself agreeing with this argument. In my defense, this appeared to me as a clear strategic ploy to fast-track the introduction of the much-anticipated Justice League franchise. Now albeit true, my resistance did waver upon watching the trailer. So as I sat in my seat, anxiously awaiting the lights to dim and the screen to illuminate, one question dawned (pun intended) on me: can the film live up to the hype?

"You want change with no sacrifice. You want peace with no struggle. The world doesn't work that way."

Now that Hunger Games has vacated the crown previously occupied by Twilight, the Divergent series appears to be the only game left in the teen drama genre. Ironically, this series is rounding its final corner with the release of Allegiant, part one of the two-part conclusion to the novel franchise written by Veronica Roth and made popular through Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Miles Teller. The list goes on; however, for the sake of time, we will leave it at that. This time around the heroes find themselves literally in unfamiliar territory, as they discover that the world they knew is larger than they ever imagined.

Bad Robot in my eyes is simply the best at keeping things a secret.  In this day and age to be able to surprise audiences is just about an impossible task.  When the first Cloverfield trailer was released in 2007 in front of Transformers, it was a trailer that had us all guessing up until its release.  In my opinion Cloverfield was one of the best found-footage films to come out, and was a grand achievement considering it was a monster film that had been pretty much been kept under wraps until its actual release.  Bad Robot managed to surprise us again, releasing a trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane that set the internet on fire with theories and hopes for this to be a long-awaited sequel.  But is that what this really is? 

What I want to go ahead and get out of the way is, if you’re hoping for spoilers, there will be none, other than to say if you are expecting a big-budget extravaganza filled with monsters destroying cities, this is not that film.  Don’t waste your money on the big IMAX presentation, because you will feel cheated.  Instead, what 10 Cloverfield Lane delivers is something more intimate than I would have expected, and it takes the thriller genre back to its basics.

”We recognize that it is our responsibility to help ensure that casting decisions reflect the diversity and culture of the time periods portrayed. In this instance we failed to live up to our own standards of sensitivity and diversity, for which we sincerely apologize. Lionsgate is deeply committed to making films that reflect the diversity of our audiences. We have, can, and will continue to do better...”

It's a bad sign when a studio issues a public apology months before the film ever hits the screens. Gods Of Egypt will likely be remembered, if it's remembered at all, as having some of the worst timing of any film ever. Everyone in the industry has seen the report of the lack of diversity in Hollywood. It started with the Oscars and steamrolled to an audit from there. I don't know that I buy all of this completely, and I do fear an exaggerated response in future films. Whatever you think of the controversy, Gods Of Egypt stepped right into the big pile of dog doo (Baby says it isn't hers). The epic fantasy story takes place in ancient Egypt and is cast with a rather obvious number of white Australian actors who just can't sell the whole Egyptian thing. Count Gerard Butler at the top of the list. Here's an actor who usually can't decide exactly what nationality his character is at the best of times. Now you're just setting yourself up for a disaster. In fact, there hasn't been this huge a disaster movie since Irwin Allen hung up his lenses decades ago.